Please read the starting post first. Then ask questions.
As you'll notice, all of us with PC gamer beta key are not included. But who is included then, what are they talking about, some "founders" are mentioned?

Spoiler

According to Kotaku, starting sometime today anyone will be able to BUY so-called North Founder's Pack that, depending what you want in it, will cost $50-$200.
Yes you've read this right. You want to beta test something, they don't pay you, you pay them.http://kotaku.com/5979599/neverwinte…an-play-drizzt

Bio's NWN you couldn't get away from idiots logging in as Drizzt. It was non-stop kicking guys out of a world that didn't have elves, let alone dark ones. BTW, dark elf, svartalfaheim, is really just another word for dwarf. If I logged in as Zweit Pete though…

Is this strictly beta access? what happens when they go live? do you get to keep your tattoo?

Yes this is a bit upsetting. I didn't like it at all when Guild wars 2 asked for beta testers early on and when beta came along "We are letting in people who prepaid for the game only" This is a lot worse and those packs are a joke. If you don't like Drizzt, get ready for a few hundred Drizzt look a likes on their special founder's pak stickie spider when you first log in.

Granted it is a free game but paying 200.00 for some cosmetics and a few beta weekends is crazy.

Beta Weekend 1 - February 8-10:

Hero of the North Founder's Pack purchasers
Guardian of Neverwinter purchasers

I think the game is looking pretty good - especially the toolset, but yeah something is out of whack with the founders pack pricing. I see nothing compelling in those packs that I'd want to pay that much for. I'm fine waiting til launch day to play for free.

Maybe I am a suffering from paranoia, but I am wondering if the Gamespy closure of the NWN server lists had something to do with promoting the NWN online game?
There a still so many great servers playing on NWN that the general public does not know about…like I am still playing on a LOTR server (see my sig).

So open beta going on. Last night I made a Trickster Rogue on Dragon but my queue was over 9000 and after letting it sit there for an hour I had to go to bed. Will try again tonight.

I have heard mixed reviews from other gamers on sites I visit. Some found the classes limited and restrictive with little freedom. Others said almost the opposite … I have gone through the Wiki a bit and designed a character (even though I could not log in with him) but its hard to tell without playing. It seemed to me like you had options in paths to pursue. I thought they did fairly well with how you roll the dice for your stats and apply "bonus" points based on race.

I also read that the lore is pretty good and it can be fun to play and do the quests both solo and with groups.

Anyone else been playing the current version have thoughts?

— Character is centrality, the impossibility of being displaced or overset. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

You can play this mostly solo except for skirmishes and dungeon delves which drop the better loot.Actually, you can run the dungeons by your self but they are tough at your level. There is also duel PVP. They are adding an other class soon(prob ranger or warlock so I have heard)

Yes, Joxer, lock boxes drop that you need to buy a key to unlock. I haven't really seen anything in them that would make me want to buy them I already bought the founders pack and I have just as good of a horse. I don't know what you mean by 97% of loot; i have gotten three of the boxes so if you mean do they drop 97% of the time the answer is no.

I heard todays patch was suppossed to fix most of the login problem but if you ask me, they need more shards. Some people were reporting being 200,000 back in the queue

It's fun and I like it. Its pretty much an action RPG with crafting. All the different currencies are confusing but like I have said before, you don't have to spend a dime if you don't want to and there will always be plenty of players with that strategy. Mostly the store is for people who like to blow money on this shiney thing or that. You can use in-game money to buy companions or mounts.

Originally Posted by joxer
Redman, wait till the game gets out of beta phase. Your inventory, if limited, will be full with those boxes and you'll either:
1. spend hundreds of $ to open them
2. quit the game

It happened with STO. I quit. Many quit. Only those who buy keys (and those are bloody expensive) are playing it now.

I have to correct you here. Your inventory wont be full of them, they stack into one inventory slot.
Or you know, you can sell them on Auction House for astral diamonds. They go for ok price so far.
And I have to repeat what Redman said, they are a rare drop. I leveled up to 18, and I only got 1 box so far. The most common drop I did get are healing potions and identification scrolls.

There are keys and boxes in Lotro, but keys also drop. They drop at a much lower rate than boxes. I sell unopened boxes at auction and could buy keys with the proceeds, although I haven't bothered. I can't see paying even in game currency for an uncertain result!

In my experience, keys drop even more frequently than boxes. Or close to the same, really. I currently have 4 keys and no boxes in my vault.

I personally love the box mechanic. I did pay real money for a key or 2 at one point, simply because I really enjoy opening the boxes, but now that I have sufficient in-game currency, I can just use that to buy any keys as needed. I'm probably going to buy a few boxes soon just to use a couple of these keys!

It will be interesting how it works out. I am not a fan of F2P games at all. I prefer a game where you just pay a set price and don't have to worry about all the in-game "marketing" and hooks to spend money (which is needed as the game needs money to run of course).

So far the only one I liked okay is GW2 and that is more buy game then its free to play. Will have to see how intrusive the whole micro-transactions are in NWN. Hard to get into NWN, or any MMO for that matter, after playing so much Skyrim which I consider so much more enjoyable. Guess I am just a bit tired of the rut. I wasn't in NWN for longer than 30 minutes before I was in the combat grind mode. Hopefully later content provides deeper story and more things to do then just combat.

— Character is centrality, the impossibility of being displaced or overset. - Ralph Waldo Emerson